IRS provides tips on determining if it’s really the IRS at your door

The Internal Revenue Service has created a special new page on IRS.gov to help taxpayers determine if a person visiting their home or place of business claiming to be from the IRS is legitimate or not.

“If you ever get an unexpected call, or even somebody knocking on your door about taxes, and it’s totally out of the blue, like you didn’t get a letter in the mail, you didn’t get a notice, you have no idea what these people are talking about, then the first thing you should do is think that it’s a scam,” said Michael Devine with the IRS.

There is a procedure the IRS typically follows with new cases.

“If the IRS wants to talk to you about your taxes, we’re going to send you a letter in the mail, or maybe something called a notice, which discusses whatever the issue is about your tax return,” said Devine. “You’re going to get several of these letters before you ever get a phone call.”

If you ignore those initial letters,an employee could come to see you.

“There are times when an IRS employee will make a house call or visit a business,” said Devine. “These are sometimes unannounced visits. This is routine, if we’re trying to collect information, or try to get a tax return that is delinquent, or if there’s going to be an examination of a business, then we may visit the business before that audit.”

You will be able to ask for identification.

“Anytime an IRS employee goes out to visit someone, they’re going to have two different kinds of identification,” said Devine. “Something we call a pocket commission, which is, a little folder and a different kind of government issued I.D. card. You have the right to actually look at both of those.”

If you have any questions, you can go to IRS.gov for more information or call 800-829-1040 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays.

Nick Gosnell is the News Director for WIBW News and the Kansas Information Network. You can follow him on Twitter @NickGosnell11.